ELIXIR-CZ – website
Hosting institution: Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, CAS
Partner institutions:
- Biology Centre, CAS
- Institute of Biotechnology, CAS
- CESNET, a.l.e.
- Czech Technical University in Prague
- International Clinical Research Center of St. Anne’s University Hospital Brno
- University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice
- Masaryk University
- Institute of Microbiology, CAS
- Charles University
- Palacký University Olomouc
- Institute of Molecular Genetics, CAS
- University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
- University of West Bohemia
Life science experiments generate an immense and exponentially increasing volume of data. It is necessary to store the data, make it accessible, interoperable and safe. The major aim is to extract key information and analyse the data effectively. The mission of ELIXIR-CZ is to create a sustainable infrastructure for storing, interoperability and sharing of the life science data for further processing and analysis. To complement the listed services ELIXIR-CZ is prepared to provide advanced tools and training to facilitate these activities. ELIXIR-CZ currently provides 9 databases of life science data and 15 tools for their processing and analysis and the number continues growing. Uniqueness of the ELIXIR-CZ lies in expertises provided by specialized groups at significant Czech life research organisations – members of ELIXIR CZ consortium. Jointly they create a bioinformatics platform that offers services for wide research community in the open access regime and is interconnected with services of the e-infrastructures providing technical solutions. The participation of ELIXIR-CZ in the pan European research infrastructure ELIXIR is essential and ELIXIR-CZ benefits from this membership. It increases the visibility of ELIXIR-CZ services and tools, enlarges its user community and it catalyses project based cooperation with other ELIXIR national nodes.
Future development
Bioinformatics is a very dynamic area reflecting spontaneously the progress in life sciences. The new technological developments in almost all life science disciplines bring forward new challenges for data usage and their analysis. ELIXIR-CZ in close collaboration with CESNET e-infrastructure is able to implement cutting edge technology in data processing, storage and accessibility as well as its own strategy of data management. All the services offered by ELIXIR-CZ research infrastructure are meant to be dynamic to reflect current development of the field and to add new functionalities to existing ones and therefore be able to meet the needs of the user community.
Socio-economic impact
Creating ELIXIR-CZ research infrastructure and its integration into the pan-European research infrastructure for biological data ELIXIR represents the key moment for life science disciplines development in the Czech Republic. Its operation enables the Czech users to implement the best European and world-class methodologies and techniques. It is also expected that scientific fields of bioinformatics will expand support of the pharmaceutical, healthcare, agriculture and bioscience industries in development of competitive products with significant multiplication effects.
